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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Dec. 28, 1899. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 30th Annual 

 Convention of the United States Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, Held at Philadelphia, 

 Pa., Sept. 5, 6 and 7, 1899. 



BY DR. A. B. MASON, SEC. 

 [Continued from page 805.] 



THIRD DAY— Evening Session. 



The evening session was called to order by Pres. Whit- 

 comb, and Dr. Miller sang- "Dot Happy Bee-Man," after 

 which a paper was read by Mr. F. Hahman, secretary of 

 the Philadelphia Bee-Keepers' Association, on " Our Pur- 

 suit as Viewed by an Amateur." 



Those in attendance on the sessions of the convention 

 had become so well acquainted with Mr. Hahman in his 

 untiring efforts to provide for the comfort of the delegates, 

 that when he stept forward to read his paper, he was greeted 

 with most hearty applause by every one present, to which 

 he, in a humorous way, responded by saying, " I am glad 

 you applauded before I read my paper," inferring that no 

 applause would be accorded him at its close. 



Mr. Hahman — I wish to state here that I did not write 

 this paper to-day. I wrote it last week, and I want to say 

 that Mr. Selser, in his paper, did mention beeswax as a pro- 

 duct of the bee, but he pretty nearly forgot it. I was also 

 pleased to hear last evening that away in the time past 

 hives were used. Long before they used glass isinglass 

 was used. The amateur breeds bees for beauty. 



Our Pursuit as Viewed by an Amateur. 



There is one side of apiculture which has not been ex- 

 ploited in our bee-periodicals to the extent which has ob- 

 tained in the race for perfection, as viewed by the profes- 

 sional bee-keeper, and yet a great part of our devotees are 

 of the amateur class — men and women who keep bees 

 chiefly for pleasure and study, and only incidentally to pro- 

 duce honey. That this class of bee-keepers view our pur- 

 suit somewhat differently from the man in pursuit of dol- 

 lars and cents must be obvious. 



The amateur is not tied down to make his living, either 

 partially or wholly, from the management of his colonies, 

 and follows the fad, if we may so term it, mainly for the 

 pleasure, recreation, instructive study and genuine enjoy- 

 ment which the keeping of a limited number of colonies 

 affords. It will thus be seen that the keeping of a few colo- 

 nies of bees offers many inducements to him who looks 

 after them, and, unlike other hobbies, is scarcely ever a 

 drain on his purse, on the contrary it frequently augments 

 the same. 



Bee-keeping appeals to the amateur, first, in the study 

 of the insect in a scientific capacity, its anatomy and object 

 and function or natural history. It is superfluous for me to 

 enter into details of a study, which has been so carefully 

 and ably elucidated in Frank Cheshire's great work, but 

 the enjoyment derived by every bee-keeper from the inves- 

 tigation of the marvellous structure of our bee, and the 

 adaptability of all its organs to the uses for which they are 

 intended is a never-ceasing source of enlightenment of the 

 sublime in creation. The entertainments of microscopical 

 observation of our Philadelphia Bee-Keepers' Association 

 during the winter months, I feel safe in saying have been 

 an enjoyment as well as instruction to its members, for 

 there is sufficient zest in the pursuit of this study, in deter- 

 miring the status of a few of the organs of our pets, which, 

 despite the careful observation and investigation of scien- 

 tists, seem to baffle scrutiny in determining their exact and 

 positive service. Another side-light of the natural history 

 of bees is their unconscious labor in the fertilization of 

 flowers, making a rather pleasant study of their habits in 

 spring and summer time. 



Fully as instructive and enjoyable is the study and ob- 

 servation of the interior economy of the hive ; perhaps I 

 may add that it is the chief attraction holding the amateur 

 steadfast in the rank of the bee-keeping fraternity. No- 

 where has the fascination of this part of bee-keeping been 

 exprest in more beauteous language than in Rev. Lang- 



stroth's masterful work — he who was the father of bee-keep- 

 ing, whose name shall endure for all time. 



In viewing bee-keeping from its practical side, there 

 are only a few minor considerations which do not also apply 

 to the professional's view for its betterment. 



One of the points which has quite a future, and has not 

 received the thoughtful, fostering care and impetus it de- 

 serves, is the production of beeswax. The commercial value 

 of beeswax has been rather overlookt by bee-keepers. The 

 persistency with which this product of the bee has been 

 adulterated in commerce, and the untiring efforts put forth 

 by chemists to find a substitute for it, as used in industrial 

 arts, are conclusive, tho negative proof of its value. If the 

 same thought and experiment as applied to increasing the 

 production of honey per colony were applied to the produc- 

 tion of beeswax, I believe the possibility of managing api- 

 aries for this product alone would result therefrom. 



The decadence of the observatory hive is something 

 which the amateurs should rectify. It is strange that this 

 hive should have almost disappeared from our supply manu- 

 facturers' catalogs. There ought to be no well-regulated 

 apiary, whether it is a professional's or amateur's, without 

 at least one of these hives. Its very name is prophetic. By 

 its use much knowledge of the habits of bees can be ob- 

 tained which never can be acquired in any other way, 

 notably the action of the bees in comb-building and the 

 elaboration of wax. 



The breeding of queens has reacht a point where the 

 requirements of professional and amateur seem to diverge 

 hereafter. It now appears that the professional bee-keeper 

 will want queens strictly for business only ; the keen com- 

 petition in producing honey for the market has made this 

 an imperative necessity, and a correct one also. Not so 

 with the amateur ; he wants bees for beauty, a few pounds 

 of honey more or less does not dim his vision— he wants 

 fine-looking bees. We all know that the beautiful five- 

 banded golden Italians, and the gentle and handsome albino 

 variety, do not embody what might be called the acme of 

 honey-gatherers, but I think all of my fellow-members have 

 noted, at some of our local gatherings during the summer- 

 time, the pride with which the owner of these handsome 

 bees has exhibited them, and the longing look cast their 

 way by those less fortunate in possessing their equal. 



We of the amateur class are with few exceptions fond of 

 bees presenting a beautiful appearance, and the queen- 

 breeder must not lose sight of this fact in catering to the 

 wants of this large class of bee-keepers in the future. 



The improvement of our stock is of vital importance, 

 and the improvement attained up to date is truly marvel- 

 lous, considering pranks which Nature plays on us in the 

 fertilization of queens. 



In the breeding of animals and plants man's superior 

 knowledge and skill have wrought vronderful changes in 

 adapting both to his uses and profit. He has, for instance, 

 produced horses for speed, and horses for draft purposes, 

 which differ as widely in appearance as they do in the uses 

 for which they are intended, both kinds having been pro- 

 duced by careful selection of adaptable breeding-stock. In 

 the matter of cattle, numerous breeds have been developt, 

 and as regards fowl, the different strains and varieties are 

 almost too numerous to mention. 



In the vegetable kingdom the improvement attained by 

 the horticulturist from the fertilization of flowers and the 

 raising of seedlings, resulting from the skill of his selection 

 of parentage has been truly startling, and vastly surpasses 

 the changes produced in the animal kingdom. A compari- 

 son between our cultivated flowers, fruits and vegetables, 

 with their progenitors, growing in their native habitat, will 

 exhibit changes which are not easy of comprehension, and 

 seem doubtful of veracity to the beholder. 



With facts thus accomplisht by careful selection and 

 breeding, the possibilities of improving our strains of bees 

 would be a foregone conclusion, provided the apiarist were 

 able to control the mating of queens and the selection of 

 individual drones for that purpose. We are aware how the 

 workers in one colony are not all alike, and the queens pro- 

 duced from one mother do not resemble each other exactly ; 

 so do the drones of a colony differ in many essentials, and I 

 believe more so than do the workers. If it were possible to 

 select the breeding-drones, not as a body, but individuallj', 

 it would not be long before we would have bees with longer 

 tongues, bees with greater wing-power, and bees better 

 adapted to withstand atmospheric changes of temperature. 

 This problem ought to be, must be, and in all probability 

 will be, solved at some future date. With the present un- 

 certain practice of selecting the drones of one colony as a 

 body, in the hope that they will constitute the stock for 



